A wave of pain surges through Guts' Brand of Sacrifice. His waist-mounted satchel begins to vibrate; when he looks inside it, he sees that the Beherit he carries has begun to rearrange its facial features. He begins to lose his composure and stares into the rippling water in front of him.

Schierke ushers the women and children in her care out of the cave and relays to Guts through thought transference that the villagers of Enoch are now safe. Just before Casca exits the cave, however, she keels over in pain and clutches at her Brand of Sacrifice. Schierke sends her consciousness back into the cave's depths, where she feels a horrifying presence that brings her physical body to its knees. After taking a moment to collect herself, she calls out to Guts once more using thought transference.

The Black Swordsman doesn't answer, too distracted by what he sees in the water. The trolls' bodies that lay within it begin to form one giant mass of flesh that begins to rise out of the water and take a distinct shape: it forms a humanoid torso and head, continuing to draw itself up into a standing position. Eventually, the mass of flesh-turned-humanoid-being becomes recognizable as Slan of the God Hand.

Slan appears to interact with Guts.

Breaking out of his trance, Guts flies into a rage and lunges at Slan. As he flies through the air, Slan uses her wings like weapons, swinging them at Guts and forcing him to abort his own attack. He lands face-first in the puddle of water. When he draws himself back up, Slan wraps her arms around him lovingly and tells him that she has been fascinated with him ever since the Eclipse and had tracked his progress throughout his journey. She bids Guts to lose himself in a deep fit of wrath, and he complies.

Schierke can sense Guts' emotions through thought transference. After some deliberation and discussion with Isidro, Schierke decides that the entrance to the cave must be sealed due to the fact that more trolls are still pursuing the group of women. Before she does so, however, she decides that she can allow Guts a few minutes to escape before he is sealed inside it.

Slan keeps Guts restrained and tortures him.

Guts' face is trapped between Slan's legs, his entire body held down by tentacles formed of troll intestines. She uses her wings to hold him by his wrists and raise him in front of her, slashing at his chest so hard that his armor shatters and leaving a deep gash across his body. She suggestively steps towards the half-dead Black Swordsman and taunts him, asking him to run her through with the Dragon Slayer. She caresses his wounded body and asks him to use his Beherit to make a sacrifice and become an Apostle.

Her words to Guts are interrupted when a curved spike thrown like a bladed boomerang slices through one of her wings. She looks up to see the Skull Knight sitting atop his horse, with one of the ornamental spikes on his gorget missing.